How to create custom expressions for import?

Title import example

In case your source file contains tiles like Dr., Ph.D. or Prof. and you would like to add them to your salutations in ACT! during import. This is possible with Custom Expressions feature available in the Virtual Mapping tab. What you need to do is just to make a correct expression for your individual import case. An example below shows how to add a title with a contact name to your salutation field of ACT! database and avoid extra spaces if the field with title is empty: 

If(Empty(SourceField(„Title“)), „“, SourceField(„Title“) & “ „) & SourceField(„contact“)



Please note!: this example can be used as a demo example and is not a common example that you can copy and use for your import schema, for any import different data sources and different databases are used, thus such expressions should be developed either from your end or by our tech support team for each individual import case. 

After import the data will have the following look in your ACT! database:

Importing of a piece of string

If often happens that you need to import only a piece of string from your source file field. This can be some ID you would like to extract. For example the file name in your source file contains an ID, like „123456FileName“ and you would like to import only the ID to your ACT! database. This can be accomplished by creating a custom expression of the following look:

SubString(SourceField(„FileName“), 0, 6)



where SubString is a function that extracts specified number of symbols
SourceString – should be specified your SourceField file name 
StartIndex – is the number of symbol you would like to start an extraction from
Length – the number of characters you would like to extract
The above expression means that the first 6 characters will be imported

In ACT! the extraxted ID will have the following look: